Daily Archives: May 18, 2009

President Obama’s pick to serve as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration defended a plan to have the FDA regulate tobacco products and pledged a vigorous response to the ongoing outbreak of influenza A(H1N1) before a largely supportive Senate committee in early May. Senators from both parties said they would back FDA Commissioner-designate Margaret A. Hamburg, MD, currently a senior scientist with the Nuclear Threat Initiative in Washington, D.C. At this article’s deadline, her nomination was expected to be approved by the committee — and subsequently the full Senate — within weeks. “I just wanted to let you know that I support you and I intend to help you,” Sen. Orrin Hatch (R, Utah) said to Dr. Hamburg during her May 7 nomination hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.